The state’s $3.8 billion gap in the fiscal 2012 budget has been
closed. And Scott claims credit for creating about 77,000
private-sector jobs.

“I ran on a very specific campaign—seven steps to 700,000
jobs—and we did all of those things or are doing all of those
things,” Scott told The Fiscal Times in an exclusive interview.
“My job is to make sure our state gets back to work, make sure
this is the state that’s most likely to succeed, and is the most
efficient. And we’re heading in that direction.”

But Florida voters—even Republicans—aren’t warming to Scott. In
fact, his 29 percent approval rating earns him the title of least
popular governor in the U.S. The poll numbers have ignited some
panic within the state GOP, which is apparently worried that
Scott’s unpopularity could influence voters in the 2012
presidential election. The Florida Republican Party spent about
$500,000 between April 1 and June 30 on polling, direct mail,
online ads, and automated phone calls to mend Scott’s public
image, though it’s unclear if the effort is working.

But fears that the governor will be a liability may be
overblown.“People aren’t going to go to the polls in Florida
saying ‘Gee, I can’t decide whether to vote for Mitt
Romney or Barack Obama, but I really don’t like Romney
because he’s a Republican and Scott is a Republican,’” says
political strategist and pollster Stu Rothenberg. He calls that
notion “nuts” and labels Scott’s impact “microscopically small”
in the most extreme scenario. “I can’t imagine Republicans are
exactly knocking on Rick Scott’s door asking to have their photos
taken with him, but the outcome of the Presidential race in
Florida and nationally is not going to rest on him—not at all,”
Rothenberg says.

Why is Scott as unpopular as a rainy day in Florida, even within
the Republican Establishment? The answer offers a cautionary tale
about the limitations and pitfalls of political neophytes
unexpectedly catapulted into high office with the help of the Tea
Party. Scott is part of the bumper crop of fiscally conservative
Republican governors who have touched off a seismic shakeup of
state government by forcing
deep budget cuts, downsizing the public workforce, and
overhauling pension and health insurance programs.

While Christie has reveled in his newly found notoriety and
popularity within the Republican Party, others, including Walker
and Scott, have traveled a much bumpier road. Walker’s proposal
to eliminate collective bargaining for most state employees
brought thousands of demonstrators to Madison, prompted a walkout
of Democratic senators, and inflamed voters. Recall elections are
pending for nine state senators, six Republicans and three
Democrats. Republicans could lose their Senate majority as a
result, and
Walker may face a recall next year. Walker told The Washington
Post that if he had it to do over, he wishes he had laid the
foundation for the changes more effectively.

Scott has also triggered turmoil. In less than six months, his
unorthodox and seemingly tone-deaf political style has alienated
much of the Florida political Establishment, while his
tight-fisted fiscal policies and close ties to the corporate
world have enraged middle-class taxpayers and advocates for the
poor.

The former health insurance executive burnished his conservative
bona fides by rejecting $2.4 billion in
federal high-speed rail funding, saying it would have forced
the state to spend too much in matching funds. But many local
officials and business leaders thought it was a big mistake to
pass up so much money that could have helped bolster the economy.
Scott also spurned a $1 billion federal grant to help the state
implement the Obama administration’s new health care law, saying
he would wait for further court rulings on the law’s
constitutionality.

Since Gov. Rick Scott took office in January, Florida’s
unemployment rate has fallen from 11.9 percent to 10.6 percent
while nationally unemployment has gone up. The state’s $3.8
billion gap in the fiscal 2012 budget has been closed. And Scott
claims credit for creating about 77,000 private-sector jobs.

“I ran on a very specific campaign—seven steps to 700,000
jobs—and we did all of those things or are doing all of those
things,” Scott told The Fiscal Times in an exclusive interview.
“My job is to make sure our state gets back to work, make sure
this is the state that’s most likely to succeed, and is the most
efficient. And we’re heading in that direction.”

But Florida voters—even Republicans—aren’t warming to Scott. In
fact, his 29 percent approval rating earns him the title of least
popular governor in the U.S. The poll numbers have ignited some
panic within the state GOP, which is apparently worried that
Scott’s unpopularity could influence voters in the 2012
presidential election. The Florida Republican Party spent about
$500,000 between April 1 and June 30 on polling, direct mail,
online ads, and automated phone calls to mend Scott’s public
image, though it’s unclear if the effort is working.

But fears that the governor will be a liability may be
overblown.“People aren’t going to go to the polls in Florida
saying ‘Gee, I can’t decide whether to vote for Mitt Romney or
Barack Obama, but I really don’t like Romney because he’s a
Republican and Scott is a Republican,’” says political strategist
and pollster Stu Rothenberg. He calls that notion “nuts” and
labels Scott’s impact “microscopically small” in the most extreme
scenario. “I can’t imagine Republicans are exactly knocking on
Rick Scott’s door asking to have their photos taken with him, but
the outcome of the Presidential race in Florida and nationally is
not going to rest on him—not at all,” Rothenberg says.

Why is Scott as unpopular as a rainy day in Florida, even within
the Republican Establishment? The answer offers a cautionary tale
about the limitations and pitfalls of political neophytes
unexpectedly catapulted into high office with the help of the Tea
Party. Scott is part of the bumper crop of fiscally conservative
Republican governors who have touched off a seismic shakeup of
state government by forcing deep budget cuts, downsizing the
public workforce, and overhauling pension and health insurance
programs.

Among the biggest GOP stars: Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin, who
weathered weeks of angry protests at the state capital to push
through his agenda; Gov. John Kasich of Ohio, who recently closed
a major budget deficit and won plaudits from both parties; and
the combative Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey, who has
attracted considerable national attention by slashing spending
and butting heads with public employee unions.

While Christie has reveled in his newly found notoriety and
popularity within the Republican Party, others, including Walker
and Scott, have traveled a much bumpier road. Walker’s proposal
to eliminate collective bargaining for most state employees
brought thousands of demonstrators to Madison, prompted a walkout
of Democratic senators, and inflamed voters. Recall elections are
pending for nine state senators, six Republicans and three
Democrats. Republicans could lose their Senate majority as a
result, and Walker may face a recall next year. Walker told The
Washington Post that if he had it to do over, he wishes he had
laid the foundation for the changes more effectively.

Scott has also triggered turmoil. In less than six months, his
unorthodox and seemingly tone-deaf political style has alienated
much of the Florida political Establishment, while his
tight-fisted fiscal policies and close ties to the corporate
world have enraged middle-class taxpayers and advocates for the
poor.

The former health insurance executive burnished his conservative
bona fides by rejecting $2.4 billion in federal high-speed rail
funding , saying it would have forced the state to spend too much
in matching funds. But many local officials and business leaders
thought it was a big mistake to pass up so much money that could
have helped bolster the economy. Scott also spurned a $1 billion
federal grant to help the state implement the Obama
administration’s new health care law, saying he would wait for
further court rulings on the law’s constitutionality.

The $69.1 billion budget Scott signed into law in May cut the
state’s education budget by 10 percent, lowering public payrolls
by about 3 ½ percent, reducing public employee retiree
cost-of-living increases, and requiring that public employees
contribute 3 percent of their salaries toward
pension plans. In March, he ushered through sweeping
legislation eliminating tenure for new teachers and linking
teachers’ contracts and salaries to students’ test scores. He has
purged state agencies of 1,100
government regulations and is working to phase out the
states’ 5.5 percent corporate income tax in order to attract
business investment. In June he signed into law a package of
changes to Florida's water management districts that he says will
amount to a $210.5 million property tax cut for homeowners and
businesses in 2012.

That prodigious record has earned him few friends, especially
among public employees who feel under siege by the governor’s
office. Even fiscally conservative groups that largely agree with
Scott’s policies are turning against him, complaining that he has
consistently plays to the
Tea Party while ignoring them and going over the heads of the
state GOP.

“He’s going ahead and making cuts, but not even soliciting the
help of friendly groups, or communicating his reasoning for doing
it well to Floridians. That is, and will continue to haunt him,”
said Apryl Marie Fogel, a conservative grassroots activist and
former Florida director for Americans for Prosperity, a fiscally
conservative national group.

But despite his low approval rating, he has no regrets about how
he has instituted change. “This is not a popularity contest,”
Scott replied. “I told everybody when I got elected exactly what
my plan was….to build the private sector. I am following and
implementing it, and it’s working.”

Scott was the co-founder and CEO of private hospital operator
Columbia/HCA from 1987
to 1997, when he was forced to resign after the company was found
guilty of committing the
largest Medicare fraud in U.S. history and compensating
doctors for referring patients to the company. Though Scott is a
multimillionaire, he had humble beginnings in Kansas, where his
earliest jobs were cleaning telephone booths, frying food,
working in gas stations, and delivering newspapers.

Scott used nearly $75 million of his wealth to finance his
gubernatorial campaign and beat former House member and state
Attorney General Bill McCollum in the GOP primary. (That put a
dent in his bank account but his net worth was $103 million at
the end of 2010.)Then he squeaked through the general election by
defeating his Democratic opponent, former
state chief financial officer Alex Sink, 49 percent to 48
percent—the closest election in modern Florida history. “He needs
to remember he didn’t get elected with a mandate like many
Republicans were that night,” says Mike Fasano, a
Republican state senator who has publicly butted heads with
Scott. “Then he went ahead, ran the government like a business,
didn’t work to build any kind of a consensus, and unveiled his
budget 200 miles outside of the capital at a Tea Party event,
leaving others who wanted to be involved in the lurch.”

In light of the animosity he has generated during the early
months of his administration, can he hold on to office and make
his long-term policies stick? Or is he likely to be a one-termer,
whose Tea Party initiatives are a transitory development?

“I keep highlighting the fact that I’m going to make this the
most fiscally conservative state in the country,” Scott said
proudly. But by not enlisting the backing of a wider swath of
Republicans beyond the Tea Party, his seat could be in jeopardy
come 2014, and that dream could be short-lived.